Year of extremes for Europe

Reporter: Jane Hutcheon

MAXINE MCKEW: Well, now we continue with our series of reports looking back at the people and events who made news this year. Tonight - Europe, where 2005 was dominated by the issue of security, particularly in response to the continent's burgeoning and in some cases militant Muslim communities. But amid the scenes of fear and loathing came a few moments of peace, goodwill and even cheer. Jane Hutcheon takes a look back on a mixed year for Europeans.

JANE HUTCHEON: July and London was bursting with optimism. A global movement to end poverty was in full swing. And then a surprise - London beat historical rival Paris for the right to host the 2012 Olympics, and for a while it seemed Britain was glowing with triumph. It didn't last for long. A group of British-born Muslims struck four locations in the heart of London's busy transport network, killing 52 people, including Melbourne man Sam Ly. On the morning of July 7, intelligence expert Crispin Black had been a few hundred metres away from the scene of one of the bombings.

CRISPIN BLACK, INTELLIGENCE EXPERT: People were broadcasting a power surge on the Tube, but power surge's very often a code name for something wrong - so, we knew something was wrong. And then, we were all sitting in our office and we heard a crump - the explosion in this square on the bus.

JANE HUTCHEON: Five months on, Mr Black believes 7 July demonstrated a series of failures by the Government and intelligence agencies.

CRISPIN BLACK: I think we should feel a sense that we let those people down - all of us. It doesn't work to say that we did everything that could have been done. I think we were caught with our eye off the ball, literally.

JANE HUTCHEON: One of the most chilling questions not yet answered was why this teaching assistant from northern England, Mohammed Sadik Khan, turned into the bomber's ringleader.

MOHAMMED SADIK KHAN: Just as I am directly responsible for protecting and avenging.

JANE HUTCHEON: And many more questions were raised in the aftermath of a second attempted series of bombings on 21 July. As police pursued leads to that event, they mistakenly shot an innocent Brazilian electrician by the name of Jean Charles de Menezes. It's emerged the police used a virtually unheard of set of directives for dealing with potential suicide bombers, known as Operation Kratos. An independent inquiry on the killing of Jean Charles de Menezes is due to report next month. But to the dismay of some, there will be no such investigation into whether British Government policy somehow contributed to radicalising elements of Britain's Muslim community.

CRISPIN BLACK: Our official system does not accept that Iraq has had some part in making certain members - a small number probably - of our Muslim communities more susceptible to being persuaded to either help or turn a blind eye to terrorism. Now, the official system doesn't allow this, everybody else sees the connection quite clearly.

JANE HUTCHEON: In a year, when PM Tony Blair narrowly won elections for a third term, the spotlight on him will only intensify. He's vowed to quit before the next elections. And with a new young leader, David Cameron, at the helm of the Conservatives, British politics faces an uncertain new year. Elsewhere, celebrations greeted the birth of the second in line to the Danish throne.

WOMAN: It's like the one piece of history we have left in this country and like it's talked on TV that we're all so divided. So, we have something that belongs to us. You know, we feel like we can gather around like this.

MAN: I think the first born should be a boy so that we can keep the tradition of having a king.

JANE HUTCHEON: The baby boy was born in mid-October to Crown Prince Frederik and his Australian wife, Princess Mary. Celebrations too for another royal family. But the second marriage of the Prince of Wales to his long-time mistress, Camilla Parker Bowles, quickly became mired in controversy.

WOMAN: The general consensus is not a lot of people have a lot against Camilla, but she's just not Diana.

JANE HUTCHEON: First, there was lingering bitterness over the role of Mrs Parker Bowles in ending the Prince's marriage to Princess Diana, prior to her tragic death. The royal divorcees found they couldn't be married in a church and like commoners, tied the knot in a registry office. The Queen refused to attend the civil marriage at the Guildhall, next door to Windsor Castle. She did, however, take part in a church blessing during which the couple expressed their remorse for past sins. But even the wedding had to be delayed by a day, so it didn't coincide with another historic European occasion: the funeral of Pope John Paul II. The man who dominated the Catholic Church for nearly three decades had died a week earlier. Born Karol Wojtyla in Poland, John Paul II was the first non-Italian Pope since the 16th century. He was loved by his followers and revered by youth. But critics saw his edicts opposing abortion, contraception and homosexuality as out of step with changing times. The papal conclave, including Australia's cardinal George Pell, elect add Pope in a similar vain to John Paul II: German cardinal Joseph Ratzinger. The new pontiff named himself Benedict XVI, after an earlier Pope who saw his mission to turn Europe back to its fundamental Christian values.

PAUL COLLINS, PAPAL HISTORIAN: He feels himself as a kind of a father of the Church, rather than as someone who is - as he used to be called - the 'Panza Cardinal', a kind of cut through all of the nonsense. It may well be that he does act as a reconciling force.

JANE HUTCHEON: In many parts of Europe though, the predominant theme was a clash of values, resulting in mob violence and an undertow of anger. Paris, the city of lovers, became a den of anguished youth as rioting around the capital spread to other centres in the country. Over an 18-day period, thousands of cars were torched, scores of people were injured, and dozens arrested. The violence penetrated council estates and deprived suburbs and, like the French national football team, the rioters came from a variety of backgrounds. But many commentators also blamed the attitude of the police.

WOMAN: The police is treating them as a colonised people, using terms, which were colonial terms, and, so, they consider that there is no equality of treatment between them and the white.

JANE HUTCHEON: In Holland, another twist to the growing cancer of disenchantment. Once considered a bastion of multiculturalism, the Dutch adopted stricter measures against immigrants following the murder last year of a prominent filmmaker. Theo van Gogh had outraged many Muslims by his depiction of women in his short film 'Submission'. In July, Mr Van Gogh's killer, Mohammed Bouyeri, was sentenced to life in prison without parole. Later in the year, the Dutch Government proposed a ban on the face covering Middle Eastern robe, known as the 'burqa'. It was the latest in a crackdown, which included the introduction of a test of 'Dutchness', and revoking residency permits for migrants accused of petty crime. Flying into a storm, the issue of extraordinary rendition came under the spotlight, transporting terror suspects from the United States for questioning by third countries, many of which condone the use of torture.

CONDOLEEZZA RICE, US SECRETARY OF STATE. The United States does not engage in torture.

JANE HUTCHEON: In Germany this Condoleezza Rice defended the practice, saying the intelligence gained had saved lives. And a festive finale to the royal year: at Buckingham Palace the crowds gathered to see the Queen, not the real thing, but the latest official portrait, this one painted by Australian entertainer Rolf Harris. This 75-year-old artist, who continues to delight British TV audiences, painted the portrait in honour of the Queen's 80th birthday next year. Did the monarch like it? That's a royal secret. But even the critics admitted it was likely to be a crowd pleaser.